Re: The X in HTML

Philip TAYLOR [PC335/O-XP] wrote:
> Many thanks, Jonny : so if I understand correctly
> (after an admittedly brief reading), the underlying
> idea is that an XHTML document shall always be statically
> parseable for validity by reference to the DTD, whereas 
> with the "Xtensibility through macros" idea which I was 
> postulating, parsing for validity wouldn't be possible until 
> after all macros had been expanded (which isn't necessarily
> a finite process).  I can certainly understand the desire
> for static parsability, but on the other hand the overheads
> of creating a custom DTD will, I suspect, make the
> eXtensibility of XHTML little-used in practice.  Is there
> really no case for a lightweight extensible language which
> would allow the author to use tags of his or her own
> choosing without the need for the formality of a DTD ?

You can write well-formed X(HT)ML documents without any DTD. Just mix 
XHTML elements with your additional ones (using another namespace). But 
you cannot expect the documents to be valid.
-- 
Johannes Koch  . IT Developer
Pixelpark AG   . http://www.pixelpark.com
Rotherstraße 8 . 10245 Berlin  .  Germany
phone: +49 30 5058 - 1288  .  fax: - 1355

Received on Monday, 12 August 2002 12:06:43 UTC